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Europe's Ugly Election

Fringe parties don't have to be coherent to win protest votes in a stagnant economy.

Updated May 21, 2014 6:31 p.m. ET

Voters in 28 countries will have the chance in the next four days to seat 751 representatives in the European Parliament for the next five years. The polls project heavy losses for the center-right European People's Party, currently the largest group in parliament with 274 seats. The multi-nation coalition may be overtaken by the second-largest group, the center-left Socialists & Democrats, though the center-anything is projected to shrink sharply in favor of various fringe groups.